Sunday, September 23, 2012

Wiped Out

Whoever said Sunday was a day of rest, did not have my Primary Class today.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Space Shuttle Endeavour

Something I have always wanted to do was to see a live space shuttle launch, well, since they cut the shuttle program I will not see that happen. Dale and I did see a space shuttle fly over our house in San Angelo 11 or 12 years ago. I was headed to Florida after a mission. It was a night so it was really cool to watch it zoom by. By time it passed we went into the house and it was passing by Houston's Johnson Space Center and a few minutes later it landed in Florida. Anyways, today I was lucky enough to see Space Shuttle Endeavour on the back of a 747 fly by my house on it's way to LA. We in Houston are sad that none of the remaining shuttles will be displayed at the Johnson Space Center, got to love politics! I sat in my backyard this morning, in my pajamas and armed with 2 cameras. Every time I heard a plane I would start taking pictures because I wasn't sure how low the plane would be flying or if I could even tell it was it. After photographing 3 different planes, I heard a loud noise and looked up and sure enough it was the 747 carrying the shuttle. I was so excited that I was able to see it and get pictures.








Ask and you shall receive

My brother-in-law, Kent, was sporting some pretty legit 3D Finding Nemo glasses the other day on facebook. I told him I so wanted some, so Kent sent me some. I really wasn't expecting him to send me some, but what a nice surprise to get them in the mail. Maybe if I really want some of he tasty treats he makes, he will send them our way also!

Thank You Kent!
I am now ready to find Nemo in my legit 3D glasses!

RAIN!

Friday night we drove clear across Houston to watch the Varsity football game. Our team had many starters out with injuries and we were playing one of the better teams in the Houston area, so when the rain came pouring down, I asked myself, "Why are we here?"  It's Texas and what else do you do on a Friday night except watch high school football. Dale at one point did lean over to me and asked if it would be wrong to ask for lightening, that's how bad we were getting beat.

The stands really started to clear when it started to pour. Glad we remembered rain ponchos!

Studying??

I snapped this picture of Makenzie trying to study.
 In all fairness, she is a great student and she is really tired from school and Seminary. Here is an email I forgot to share this summer, it was from her Chemistry teacher:

Hi
I can’t remember if I have already written to you, so I apologize if this is a duplicate, but I really enjoyed having Makenzie in chemistry this year. She is a fantastic young woman, and I felt honored to be her special basketball teacher as well as being invited to breakfast at your church. She is such a friendly person and has never met a stranger…I know you must be proud of her.
Have a great summer,
Susan Gray
 
Makenzie is friendly and has never met a stranger!!

Monday, September 10, 2012

Do You Know Where Your Kids Are?

We do, as long as their phone is on and they haven't turned off their locator.

Dale asked me if the kids were going to the football game on Saturday and I assumed they were. Dale looks up their location and sure enough Brittney was there.


And from this picture, it pretty much located where she was sitting.
Kind of creepy, huh?

Week Two of Football

Jacob's game last Thursday Night was a hot one!! His game wasn't quite as hot as the Freshman B team that played before them, but his team sat out in the hot sun before and during that game. I was on the sidelines taking pictures and I was so hot and can't even imagine how those boys felt in pads and helmests running around.

Like I said, it cooled down some when the sun went down, but I think Jacob's team was pretty drained from sitting in the heat for 2 1/2 hours. His team tied 20-20. Thought we were going to win it in the last few seconds, we threw a pass to an open receiver and he was stopped inches short of the goal line. BUMMER!

Here are some pics from that day.
Jacob's team sitting out in the sun

This is some of the B Team players when they came off the field, they are hot and exhausted

Makenzie and Dale sitting in the sun 

Jacob getting ready to warm up

Look at that flexibility...NOT

Catching a pass in warm ups

A pass coming to him during the game....

...but #20 broke it up. Bummer because it would have been a touchdown.

Jacob in on a tackle

In on another tackle

Pushing the kid out of bounds

Getting a "good job" from one of the coaches

Making another tackle and then the ref stepped into my shot so I couldn't get the whole tackle

A refreshing drink of water!

Jacob Thinks He's Funny

When Makenzie and I arrived at the stadium where Jacob's game was we saw him with his team, but he was on crutches. He thought he could fool us but I knew who the crutches belonged to and I'm sure they would have called me if he had gotten hurt getting on the bus, since I saw him just before he left the school on the bus. Just hope playing on the crutches doesn't jinx him!


BYU v UT Soccer

Brittney got another chance to wear her half  BYU/UT shirt again. They played them an soccer. BYU came out on top!

Someone Had Fun

While us Texas folk were laboring away on Labor Day, the Texas folk in Utah were playing!
Thank you Dave for taking Matthew and Brittney wake boarding, they had a blast!
Brittney and Shaylee.
Shaylee was along for the ride.

Matthew doing what he loves to do 

Brittney's turn. They wore a wet suit since it was cold, at least for Texans

Matthew getting some air.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

We Labored

This is the result of our Labor Day activities:
Dale and I pruned and pruned and pruned around the pool.
The climbing rose bushes on both sides of the pool box were cut all the way down.
No more injuries from their thorns!!!

We can get around the diving board now, without being attacked by the oleanders.

I dug 2 weak oleanders out(and I'm feeling it today)  so there are some empty spots, but it looks nicer.

We are ready for some football!!

Jacob had his first high school football game on the 30th. It was a very hot evening!! I was down on the field taking pictures and it was really hot there and I wasn't even in pads and a helmet, but I'm also not a freshman in high school either. Jacob is #26, that is a whole new number for this family. I was kind of hoping he would be #18, that was Matthew's number and we have plenty of maroon shirts and jersey's that have that number with the name SMITH on it.We get to get new shirts since we don't already have enough maroon shirts...NOT! Unfortunately, Jacob's team lost, he played receiver and corner. He never had a pass thrown his way and he had some tackles as a corner. It's hard to get playing time with 40 boys on the team, but it's better than the 64 boys on the freshman B team.

Here a some pics from that hot, humid, evening.

Freshman Maroon (A) Team


Pregame instructions

Jacob ready to warm up


Jacob making a tackle




Jacob warming up the QB's on the sidelines





When we got home we watched the BYU game on ESPN. This was the first game of the season for them and Matthew and Brittney were cheering on the Cougars.And yes, BYU won.

The next night we went to our High School's first Varsity football game. It was at the BBVA Compass Stadium, this is were the Houston Dynamo Soccer team plays. We were the first high school to have a football game there.

Makenzie and I ready for some Cinco Ranch Cougar football and yes we won!